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Gene Frenette: ACC could lose its spot at the playoff table

As if the Atlantic Coast Conference hasn't already been a BCS punch line long enough, the Southeastern Conference and Big 12 sent an unmistakable message Friday that the basketball-driven league is now treading water in college football's survival-of-the-fittest landscape.

With the SEC and Big 12 partnering up for a prime-time, New Year's Day bowl matchup when the 2014 BCS contract expires, that Rose Bowl-type scenario only makes the long-anticipated day of four 16-team super conferences an inevitable reality. It's a certain death notice for Big East football, and the ACC might not survive without convincing Florida State/Miami to stick around and Notre Dame to come on board.

The Big 12, weakened by Texas A&M and Missouri flocking to the SEC, decided that swallowing its pride and getting in bed with the SEC was better than standing pat. Now the ACC and commissioner John Swofford, which tried to stay ahead of the curve by raiding Big East teams Pittsburgh and Syracuse, has to legitimately fear Miami and FSU pulling up anchor to merge with the Big 12.

It's not hard to imagine the ACC being the odd league out. Football weaklings will be left standing at the altar when super conferences become reality.

A league that goes 2-13 in BCS bowl games is asking to be on life support. ...

When Jaguars tight end Zach Potter questioned the team choosing punter Bryan Anger in the third round in a tweet, which was soon deleted, it warranted a call to the principal's office for a sit-down with general manager Gene Smith. In Potter's defense, he was hanging out with former Jaguars punter Spencer Lanning when he posted the tweet. ...

How many NFL teams have to decline HBO's "Hard Knocks" before it grants owner Shad Khan's wish to feature his team? When it comes to national publicity, the Jaguars are like that unathletic kid in a pickup game. Khan should have better luck with his pitch to get a home game in 2013 moved to London or somewhere overseas. ...

At the snail's pace the Roger Clemens perjury trial is moving along, it makes me wonder if the prosecution has Kevin Na as an adviser. ...

Danny Wuerffel is the only quarterback in SEC history to lead his team to four titles and win a Heisman Trophy. The Florida great also went 4-0 against coach Phil Fulmer's Tennessee teams. Yet Fulmer is voted into the College Football Hall of Fame this week and not Wuerffel. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. ...

Florida State basketball coach Leonard Hamilton recently signed 7-foot-3 center Boris Bajanovsky from the Slovak Republic, which was preceded by a signature from guard Devon Bookert of Anchorage, Alaska. So apparently that $2.4 million shortfall in FSU's athletic budget hasn't limited basketball recruiting travel. ...

Regardless of what people believe about Jaguars’ defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, and the contradictory views that still exist between his version of events that led to his eye injury at a nightclub and the sheriff’s incident report, the time has come to move on.

Knighton expressed appropriate regret for putting himself in a bad position. He handled a tough situation better than any Jaguar who has ever encountered off-the-field difficulty. The focus should now turn to how well Knighton will manage his recovery, and whether he can get into the kind of physical condition necessary to become an impact player during a contract year.

The bottom line is this: Knighton, who claims to weigh 348 pounds after being around a hefty 365 at this time last year, deserves to be judged by how well he plays in 2012 and beyond, not by an awful night in which one unidentified coward hit him over the head with a bottle. ...

Rookie defensive end and second-round pick Andre Branch, on Anger’s selection: “This whole draft class was amused until we saw his video. People can say, ‘He’s still a punter.’ Once you see [Anger] kick, you won’t be saying that.” ...

Here’s how far American women’s tennis has fallen: only two players, Serena Williams (No. 6) and somebody named Christina McHale (No. 36) are currently in the world top 50.